Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Yangon: Vietnam remained top of table in Group G of the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 qualifiers while hosts Myanmar moved up to second after both recorded 2-1 victories over Timor Leste and Hong Kong respectively on Sunday.
It did not take long for Vietnam to go take the lead at the Youth Training Centre with skipper Nguyen Trong Dai scoring with just four minutes played before Nguyen Quang Hai doubled the advantage on the 17th minute.
Timor Leste’s Henrique Cruz reduced the deficit with a minute remaining but it was too little too late as the Timorese dropped to third after Myanmar came from a goal down and scored a winner deep into stoppage time to defeat Hong Kong 2-1 in the later fixture.
Neither side could take the initiative until the 73rd minute when Hong Kong took the lead courtesy of Ngan Cheuk Pan only for Aung Zin Phyo to equalise with two minutes of the 90 left to play.
The game appeared to be destined to end with both sides sharing the spoils until substitute Aung Moe Thu, who came off the bench on 76 minutes, scored the winner six minutes into time added on at the end of the second half.
Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while hosts Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams).
If Bahrain finish top of their qualifying group or one of the five second best-placed teams, the next (6th) second-placed team will qualify for the final competition.